U.S. Bank Arena is an indoor arena, located in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, along the banks of the Ohio River, next to the Great American Ball Park. It was completed in September 1975, and named Riverfront Coliseum because of its placement next to Riverfront Stadium. The arena seats 17,556 people (in the round). It is the largest indoor arena in the Greater Cincinnati region with 346,100 square feet in area.

It was the home of the Cincinnati Stingers, of the WHA, from 1975–1979. Since then, the arena has hosted other minor-league hockey teams and various concerts, political rallies, tennis tournaments, figure skating, a Billy Graham Crusade and other events. The facility's longest-serving tenant was the men's basketball program of the University of Cincinnati, which used the arena from its completion until 1987, when U.C. played its games at Cincinnati Gardens (1987–89), until an on-campus facility (Shoemaker Center), now known as Fifth Third Arena, was completed. It will also become home to the 2014 NCAA DIV I men's ice Hockey tournament serving as the Midwest regional with Miami University the host school.

On occasion, there are local pushes for the attraction of another major sports franchise to occupy the arena, possibly an NBA or NHL franchise either relocated or expanded, though little has ever come to fruition.[5] The Cincinnati Royals left Cincinnati in 1972, and were the last NBA team to call Cincinnati their home. The Cleveland Cavaliers have played a preseason game at U.S. Bank Arena, however.[6]

Notable events[edit]

1979 The Who concert tragedy[edit]

On December 3, 1979, eleven teenagers and young adults (Peter D. Bowes, 18; Teva R. Ladd, 27; David J. Heck, 19; Connie S. Burns, 18; James T. Warmoth, 21; Bryan J. Wagner, 17; Karen L. Morrison, 15; Jacqueline L. Eckerle, 15; Walter H. Adams, Jr., 22; Stephen M. Preston, 19; Phillip K. Snyder, 20) were killed by compressive asphyxia and 26 other persons were injured in a rush for seating at the opening of a sold-out rock concert by the Englishrock bandThe Who.[11][12][13][14][15][16] On that evening, there were a total of 18,348 ticketed fans attending (3,578 reserved seats (sections 111 – 118), 14,770 general admission seats). The concert was using "festival seating",[17] (also known as "general seating"), where the seats are available on a first come-first served basis. When the waiting fans outside the Coliseum heard the band performing a late sound check, they thought that the concert was beginning and tried to rush into the still-closed doors. Some at the front of the crowd were either trampled or squeezed to death standing up as those pushing from behind were unaware that the doors were still closed. Only a few doors were in operation that night, and there are reports that management did not open more doors due to union restrictions and the concern of people gate-crashing the ticket turnstiles.[18][19]

As a result, the remaining concerts of 1979, Blue Öyster Cult on December 14 and Aerosmith on December 21, were canceled[20] and concert venues across North America switched to reserved seating or changed their rules about festival seating. Cincinnati immediately outlawed festival seating at concerts. After establishment of a crowd control task force by Cincinnati mayor Ken Blackwell, the first concert held at the facility after the tragedy was ZZ Top with the Rockets on March 21, 1980 on ZZ Top's Expect No Quarter Tour.[21]

On August 4, 2004, Cincinnati City Council unanimously overturned the ban because it placed the city at a disadvantage for booking concerts.[22] Many music acts prefer festival seating because it could allow the most enthusiastic fans to get near the stage and generate excitement for the rest of the crowd. The city had previously made a one-time exception to the ban, allowing festival seating for a Bruce Springsteen concert on November 12, 2002. Cincinnati was, for a time, the only city in the United States to outlaw festival seating altogether.

The venue hosted part of the 1981 and all of the 1992 Horizon League men's basketball conference tournament as well as the 1978 and 1983 Metro Conference and the 2002 and 2004 Conference USA men's basketball tournaments; the Atlantic 10 Conference also held its tourney there in 2005 and did so again in 2006.